Who this is for
College Administrator
A term that has finished should stop appearing in menus and Course Finder results, but its registrations, grades and history all need to stay. Retiring a term takes it out of circulation without deleting anything. For what a term controls, see Understanding academic terms.
Before you start
Retiring a term is a set of checkboxes on the term form, and none of them delete anything. Deleting is only for terms created in error, and it is blocked while registrations or sections depend on the term.
Steps
- Go to College Admin → Academic Terms and click the term's name.
- Check INACTIVE. Students stop seeing the term in registration lists; staff keep full access to everything in it.
- Optionally check HIDE FROM LIST to keep the term out of staff filter dropdowns too. It stays reachable through the All Hidden Terms choice.
- If staff still need the term inside workflow steps (finishing late paperwork, for example), check SHOW IN CA WORKFLOW STEPS so the inactive term stays visible there.
- Save the term.
What success looks like
The term shows as inactive in the Academic Terms list, and students no longer see it when registering.
If this doesn't work
- You tried Delete and got an error: the term has registrations, sections or other records attached. That is the product protecting your history; use INACTIVE instead.
Archiving is a separate, permanent step for terms your college is completely done with; it cannot be undone, so contact the Help Desk if you think you need it. See Understanding academic terms for the full lifecycle.